6.50pm: Fechner loses race, busts in ninth
Well that didn't last long. A matter of six or so hands into the nine-handed play, we have lost Frank Fechner in ninth and have our final table line up confirmed.
Kasparas Klezys opened to 45,000 and Fechner, one seat to his left, shoved for 298,000. The decision passed back to Klezys and he pondered for a moment before calling. They were racing.
Fechner: [10h][10d]
Klezys: [ah][jc]
"One time," said Klezys, perhaps remembering all the other times today that he has got his chips in in much better spots than this, and still lost. But this time his fortunes had improved.
The [ad] was in the window and the rest of the board filled [qs][2h][6h][9h], which gave Fechner's chips to the Lithuanian. Fechner wins €8,125.
"Yesssss," said Dirk Recknagel, who has somehow parlayed his micro-stack at the start of the day into a final table spot.
A full wrap, with chip counts for the final eight, will be with you shortly. Stand by.
6.35pm: Nine handed
Here is how they line up nine-handed. Remember, one more player needs to be eliminated before we have our official final of eight.
Seat 1 - Thomas Erler, Germany, 1,533,000
Seat 2 - Ronald Szczerba, Germany, 444,000
Seat 3 - Dirk Recknagel, Germany, 272,000
Seat 4 - Kasparas Klezys, Lithuania, 884,000
Seat 5 - Frank Fechner, Germany, 313,000
Seat 6 - Bart Lybaert, Belgium, 1,533,000
Seat 7 - Fabian Leib, Germany, 1,006,000
Seat 8 - Giovanni Mazza, Italy, 1,022,000
Seat 9 - Bülent Demirtas, Germany, 1,230,000
Hats off to Dirk Recknagel, who was the short stack of about 45,000 at the start of the day and is somehow still clinging on.
6.15pm: Down to nine
Ivan Herz is out, leaving us with nine players. All the money went in -- about 350,000 for Herz -- on the turn, with the following cards exposed: [ah][kd][5h]. Fabian Leib had bet 150,000 at this stage and then called the shove. Leib had [as][5c] and was ahead of Herz's [ad][9d]. There was no diamond on the river and that was the end of that for Herz.
They'll now reassemble around one table and we'll have full draw and chip counts momentarily.
6.10pm: Ouch
One of the reasons you show big bluffs is so that no one believes you when you have it. But for Kasparas Klezys that plan has just backfired horribly. Even if you've got it pre-flop, you can always be outdrawn.
Not long after the enormous hand described below, Klezys got things started from under the gun, raising to 42,000. Bülent Demirtas, in the small blind, made it 110,000 and Klezys clicked it back, making it 205,000.
Demirtas had seen this before and shoved, for 718,000. But Klezys snap-called, showing [as][kd].
Demirtas was in horrible shape with the [ac][6h]. But it was soon Klezys putting dents in the wall when the board ran [9c][4s][5h][9d][6c]. Demirtas is now probably the tournament chip leader, which Klezys is "down" to about a million only.
"Sometimes he has it," said Demirtas. Klezys didn't see a funny side.
6.pm: Klezys continues to purr
No one in the room has any doubt that Kasparas Klezys has some game about him. And if anyone was in two minds, they will have just been persuaded to believe the hype by this latest hand.
Bülent Demirtas opened to 50,000 from the cut off and Klezys raised to 101,000 from the small blind. Bart Lybaert, who has no doubt noticed Klezys' tendency to mix it up, decided to use his position to his advantage here. Or so he thought.
Lybaert now four bet to 199,000, which got Demirtas out of the way. But Klezys was going nowhere and five bet to 288,000.
Lybaert took a while but opted to call, which meant they were going to see a flop with more in the middle than most players had in their stacks. It came [js][10h][6d].
Klezys led for 215,000 and Lybaert folded. Klezys couldn't resist. He flipped over [10c][3c]. "Nice hand," said Lybaert. There wasn't much else he could say.
BLINDS UP. PLAYING 10,000-20,000 (3,000 ANTE) IN LEVEL 22
5.50pm: Kollmann moves one seat to left, to payouts desk
Erich Kollmann is out, sent to the rail by Giovanni Mazza. It was folded to Mazza in the small blind and he raised to 40,000. Kollmann shoved for 115,000 from the big blind and Mazza had little choice but to call.
Mazza: [kc][9d]
Kollmann: [qs][5s]
The board came [kh][3d][4c][10c][ac] and Kollmann moved one seat to his left, to the chair in front of the payouts table, where he collected €6,875 for 11th place.
5.35pm: Bauer hurt by Herz
Gerhard Bauer picked the wrong time to put up a strong defence of his big blind and has become our 12th place finisher as a result.
After Ivan Herz opened the button, making it 43,000, Bauer shoved for 250,000. Herz called in the blink of an eye, with good reason. He had [qh][qc], making Bauer's [js][7h] look meagre by comparison.
There was a seven on the board but nothing else and Bauer hits the rail.
5.25pm: Klezys keeps chipping up
Kasparas Klezys is picking his spots very well, keeping his stack moving in the right direction and putting his opponents to the test time and again. Moments ago Ronald Szczerba opened to 38,000 from under the gun and Frank Fechner called from the cut off. Klezys raised to 118,000 from the button - a classic squeeze - and although both Szczerba and Fechner, in succession, were clearly very tempted to continue with the hand, they both ended up giving it up allowing Klezys to stack up another 100,000 and change.
5.10pm: Worst possible river card accounts for Jovanovic
This turned into something of a cooler for Dorde Jovanovic. He's been sent to the rail by Bart Lybaert. Lybaert opened from the button to 35,000 and Jovanovic, the last remaining Serb in the field, called from the big blind.
Both players checked the [qh][8s][kc] flop and then Jovanovic checked the [2s] turn. Lybaert bet 40,000 and Jovanovic called. The [js] came on the river and Jovanovic jammed for about 170,000.
Lybaert didn't waste much time in calling with his [9c][10h] for the straight, which was better than Jovanovic's [qc][jh] two pair.
5pm: Leib finds a double
Fabian Leib had lost a lot of his commanding stack over the past couple of levels, so much so that when he shoved from the small blind, after Gerhard Bauer's 32,000 open from the button, it was for 291,000.
Leib sat back and checked his phone as Bauer went through the wringer, pondering the call. He had about 600,000, so had enough behind if he lost. Eventually he made the call, and they were at the races:
Bauer: [kh][qc]
Leib: [9s][9d]
A board of [4c][as][3s][3d][7h] wasn't what Bauer needed, however. He and Leib essentially swap the size of their stacks.
4.55pm: Recknagel refuses to roll over
Kasparas Klezys has had at least three attempts to knock out Dirk Recknagel today but Recknagel has come from behind to win them all. This time, Klezys raised from late position with [ac][8h] and then called Recknagel's shoved of 104,000.
Recknagel had [kc][jc] and spiked the [js] on the river to double. Klezys still has close to a million in chips, which Recknagel is still in trouble. But this little fight continues to run and run.
4.50pm: Stacks at the break
Here's what they are playing at the moment:
Table 34
1 - Bülent Demirtas - 678,000
2 - Frank Fechner - 555,000
3 - Kasparas Klezys - 1,009,000
4 - Bart Lybaert - 1,391,000
5 - Dirk Recknagel - 124,000
6 - Dorde Jovanovic - 332,000
7 - Ronald Szczerba - 565,000
Table 37
1 - Giovanni Mazza - 639,000
2 - Erich Kollmann - 234,000
3 - Ivan Hertz - 385,000
4 - Thomas Erler - 1,289,000
5 - Gerhard Bauer - 620,000
6 - Fabian Leib - 410,000
BLINDS UP. PLAYING 8,000-16,000 (2,000 ANTE) IN LEVEL 21
4.15pm: Back to Brazil for Aquino
Rinaldo Aquino's tournament is over in 14th. The gist of it was that his pair of aces with a queen kicker (and a backdoor flush draw) couldn't beat Thomas Erler's pair of aces with a king kicker (no draw, but didn't need it). It was an ace-high board and all the money went in on the flop.
Aquino gets €5,625 for his troubles.
4.10pm: High Roller still open
There's five minutes still left to get here for today's High Roller event. It's a €2,000 tournament, so hop in either of these and you can still play if you arrive before 4.15pm.
4pm: Last 14
The redraw for the final two tables took place before we lost Thomas Ollhoff and Koral Calisir, as described below. But we're now playing on two tables of seven, which look a bit like this. (Stacks are approximate.)
Table 34
1 - Bülent Demirtas - 785,000
2 - Frank Fechner - 550,000
3 - Kasparas Klezys - 1,010,000
4 - Bart Lybaert - 1,300,000
5 - Dirk Recknagel - 125,000
6 - Dorde Jovanovic - 390,000
7 - Ronald Szczerba - 260,000
Table 37
1 - Giovanni Mazza - 480,000
2 - Erich Kollmann - 230,000
3 - Ivan Hertz - 290,000
4 - Thomas Erler - 920,000
5 - Gerhard Bauer - 390,000
6 - Fabian Leib - 680,000
7 - Rinaldo Aquino - 390,000
3.50pm: And another couple bite the dust
Koral Calisir and Thomas Ollhoff have both now busted, one from each of our remaining two tables. Ollhoff got his chips in with [qc][qh], fair enough, but was up against the [as][kd] of Thomas Eiler and an all-spade board was one way for Eiler to win that one.
Calisir was all in with [ad][6d] and Bart Lybaert had [as][qd], nothing on the board. The queen played. We are now down to 14 playing two tables of seven.
3.40pm: Mandzjuk out
Oleg Mandzjuk couldn't recover from that pot against Kasparas Klezys. He moved tables but then shoved his small blind with [jd][10h] and was called by Bart Lybart's [kh][7h] in the big blind. Nothing on the flop and Mandzjuk was out.
They are now down to 16 players and there will be a redraw for the final two tables.
3.30pm: Three huge hands, two bust outs
All of a sudden we are down to 17 players, one away from our final two tables. Two players were eliminated almost simultaneously, and a massive pot occurred on another table, giving us the headline news that Kasparas Klezys has 980,000, leading the tournament.
Let's look at the bust outs first. Mark Bech was the Day 1A chip leader but was a short stack here today. He got it in with [qd][kd], running into Thomas Eiler's [qs][qh]. No help and that sent Bech to the cash games.
Just after that Jan Dönges got his short stack in with pocket sevens and ran into Dorde Jovanovic's pocket tens. Another one down.
And then the big one. Oleg Mandzjuk and Kasparas Klezys both had more than 500,000 and played this one all the way to the river, when all the chips went in. By that stage the board showed [2h][kh][4c][5c][4s] and Mandzjuk tabled [js][jc]. However Klezys showed up with [kc][5s] and that was enough to leave Mandzjuk crippled.
Klezys has been playing a lot of hands and his reputation allowed him to get paid off in full here. He is going to be extremely dangerous now every pot is potentially worth a seat at the final table.
3.15pm: Two players stand away from table, but only one busts
Mario Bureš is out of the tournament and the man that sent him there, Koral Calisir, is also standing away from the table, serving a one-round penalty.
Here's why. Calisir thought he was on the button and that Bureš, the short stack at the table, was in the big blind. He open shoved for 160,000. Bureš called and the two of them showed their hands:
Bureš: [2s][2h]
Calisir: [as][4c]
However Erich Kollmann was actually the player in the big blind and now not only had two short stacks all in in front of him, but he also knew what they were holding. He thought for a while but then folded queen-ten.
So back to these two. The board ran [8s][jh][ad][8h][10h], which was good for Calisir and bad for Bureš. Kollmann would have knocked them both out with a straight had he called.
No matter. Bureš went looking for his 20th place money - €3,750 - while Calisir went looking for something else to do for an orbit as he serves his penalty for exposing his cards out of turn.
3.05pm: Kollmann flushed in hearts
Erich Kollmann has just doubled up through Dorde Jovanovic, leaving the Serbian player kind of peeved. He had his kings cracked by [ah][4h], but this was pretty standard.
It was folded to Kollmann on the button and he shoved for 116,000 with that suited ace. Jovanovic of course called with his [kd][kh] but the board ran [9h][3h][5s][7d][10h] to fill the heart flush. Kollmann continues to fly the flag for Austria. He's the last player remaining from there.
2.55pm: Big stacks and personal duels
There's no doubting the table with the most action this afternoon. It's the one featuring the big stacks of Thomas Erler, Fabian Leib, Bart Lybaert and Bülent Demirtas, none of whom seem shy of mixing it with one another.
A small pot just played out between Demirtas and Leib, which is indicative of how they are playing. Demirtas opened to 22,000 from mid position and Leib called in the small blind. They both checked the [qs][4c][3s] flop but on the [ks] turn, Leib check-raised Demirtas's bet of 35,000. Leib made it 70,000.
Demirtas called, taking them to a [jd] river. Leib led for 70,000 and Demirtas folded, muttering something like, "Next time."
Over the other side of the playing area, there's a small duel brewing between Kasparas Klezys and Dirk Recknagel. Recknagel was the smallest stack in the room at the start of the day, with only 45,000 chips. But by the last break, he had multiplied that nearly by ten and had 410,000.
He had got his short stack in at least three times with hands that were behind at the time, but hit his cards to double up repeatedly, more than once through Klezys, to his immediate left. Klezys, however, is more than happy to continue tangling and I suspect the two of them may yet get involved in another huge one, now they both have enough chips.
2.45pm: Trtyakov busts to Mazza
You've got to win your flips to win these tournaments, and Dmitry Trtyakov just lost one. He's out. He had [10s][10d] and was up against Giovanni Mazza's [ad][ks]. The board ran [4d][2s][as][qh][9c] and that ace sent Trtyakov to the rail.
Mazza has been up and down and up and down for about three days here. But he's back on an upward tick now, with about 550,000.
Trtyakov, meanwhile, takes €3,750 for 21st place.
2.25pm: Chips!
Here's how the 21 remaining players line up:
Thomas Erler Germany 857000
Fabian Leib Germany 753000
Bart Lybaert Belgium 667000
Bulent Demirtas Germany 663000
Oleg Mandzjuk Germany 645000
Dorde Jovanovic Serbia 477000
Dirk Recknagel Germany 471000
Frank Fechner Germany 439000
Kasparas Klezys Lithuania PokerStars Qualifier 410000
Giovanni Mazza Italy 410000
Thomas Ollhoff Germany 363000
Rinaldo Aquino Brazil 340000
Ivan Herz Slovakia 300000
Gerhard Bauer Germany 285000
Dmitry Trtyakov Russia PokerStars Qualifier 225000
Erich Kollmann Austria 225000
Mark Bech Denmark PokerStars Qualifier 193000
Jan Donges Germany 192000
Mario Bures Czech Republic 165000
Ronald Szczerba Germany 160000
Koral Calisir Turkey 150000
BLINDS UP. PLAYING 5,000-10,000 1,000 ANTE IN LEVEL 19
2pm: Break time
We're now coming to the end of level 18 and players will take a break. We will get full chip counts of the 21 remaining players.
1.45pm: Premium hands bust no so premium hands
Big hands don't always hold up, especially not in hold'em. But very often they do. And within the space of about five minutes here in Rozvadov, pocket aces and pocket kings accounted for two of our players.
First up, Simeon Todorov ran his [5d][6s] (and a small stack) into Thomas Ollhof's kings. The pocket pair won that. And then soon after Vladimír Válek shoved from the button with [ac][3c] and ran headlong into Bülent Demirtas's [ah][ad]. The pocket pair won that too.
1.35pm: Lybaert back in the game
No sooner had Bart Lybaert lost half his stack, he doubled it up again. This time it came from Fabian Leib, the other major action player on that table, who was stacked enough to take on Lybaert.
This one was a pretty standard [ac][kc] (Lybaert) v [qh][qc] (Leib) hand that they got all in pre-flop. The flop was dry but the [kd] turned and that gave Lybaert the 650,000-ish in the middle.
Leib still has about that in his stack even after this hand.
1.25pm: Lybaert slides and Erler climbs
Bart Lybaert has just lost about half of his stack in a monster pot with Thomas Erler. It was relatively sedate as they got to a flop of [7s][8d][9d]. Then Lybaert check-called Erler's 41,000 bet. The [5s] turned and it all went off: Lybaert checked, Erler bet 100,000 (from about 320,000 total) and Lybaert shoved, covering Erler.
Erler snap-called with [6h][6d] and his straight only had to fade a flush draw. Lybaert had [kd][qd]. The [2c] rivered and Erler punched the table in delight. Lybaert went straight to his mobile to text the latest news - or just to check the latest news, who knows. But he's down to 320,000 now. Erler has about 700,000.
LEVEL UP. BLINDS 4,000-8,000 (1,000 ante) IN LEVEL 18
1.05pm: Two in one
Vladimir Geshkenbein is out, and Ján Petráš also perished in the same hand. This too was kind of standard, given the cards and the stacks.
Petráš shoved his 50,000 stack with pocket sevens and Geshkenbein, left with only about 10,000 after that last hand with Thomas Ollhoff, got it in with [ac][4c]. Oleg Mandzjuk woke up with ace-king in the big blind, called them both and hit.
So it's goodbye to Geshkenbein and Petráš.
1pm: Ollhoff wins race against Geshkenbein
Hands play themselves sometimes, and such was the case when Thomas Ollhoff found [ad][kc] versus Vladimir Geshkenbein's pocket tens. They got it in pre-flop and an ace turned to give Ollhoff a double up and peg Geshkenbein back to a micro stack.
12.50pm: Recknagel finds reason for hope
Dirk Recknagel returned today with the shortest stack in the room, and his table demeanour didn't exactly suggest he was expecting to stay long. He was slumped in his chair, squeezing his cards forlornly, just looking for a chance to get his chips in.
But Recknagel is sitting a little bit more alertly now having just more than doubled up, putting the latest beat on Kasparas Klezys.
Klezys opened under the gun to 13,000 and Gerhard Bauer called from the small blind. Then Recknagel, in the big blind, shoved for about 70,000. Klezys wasted little time in moving all in over the top and that persuaded Bauer out of it.
Recknagel was staring at the inevitable with his [ah][9d] to Klezys's [ad][kh]. But the board of [as][8h][8s][9h][10h], particularly that nine on the river, kept Recknagel in it.
12.45pm: Teodorovic runs out of steam
There probably is some deep-stack poker being played, but for the time being most of the attention is with the short stacks busting. Like this one. Sinisa Teodorovic (who must have lost a big chunk earlier) was all in with [ac][10h] and was up against Thomas Erler's [ac][kd]. The board ran [js][6h][4d][4s][as] and the absence of a ten meant Teodorovic went broke.
12.35pm: Kruljac krushed
There's nothing wrong with defending your big blind with [kh][qh] and a king-high flop is pretty cool too. But when all the money went in with Ivan Kruljac holding the pair of kings, he was in bad shape against Fabian Leib's [as][ac]. That's another man out.
12.25pm: First man down
You've got ace-king, a short stack and you get it in, called by the chip leader with ace-queen. Good start to the day, right? Wrong. David Engelthaler is the first man out today when Bart Lybaert spiked a queen on the flop. Ouch. Down to 29.
12.15pm: Payouts updated
Play is under way here, but it was worth taking a quick moment to look at the people who have already busted from yesterday. The payouts page will carry all the details of the eliminations; take a look there now to see who has already cashed.
12.05pm: Play is under way
On the stroke of five past, play began for the day. We are actually beginning level 17 to start the day, with blinds of 3,000-6,000. Kasparas Klezys has a bottle of Corona. "Already starting?" said Vladimir Geshkenbein as he sat down next to him. With Geshkenbein on his left, Klezys is well advised to turn to the bottle.
Giovanni Mazza and Sinisa Teodorovic have not yet arrived, but are surely on their way. This is a big day.
11.55am: The end of level 17
As far as most of us remember - which isn't far, as a rule - the clock stopped last night when we were still playing level 16, with blinds of 2,500-5,000 and a 500 ante. There were only about ten minutes of that level remaining, which we will play through today and then into level 17.
Players are now just reassembling in their lovely new abode - the high stakes cash game area. We are over the other side of the tournament room, in our makeshift press room, very much the cheap seats. But we should still be able to get most of the action from here.
Morning all and welcome back to Rozvadov. I trust you slept well. We are playing to a final table today here at the King's Casino, slimming our four-table field down to only one.
There were a couple of very slight errors in the seat draw published last night. They have been amended now, but to avoid any doubts, here's who's coming back today:
Seat draw for Day 3 in Rozvadov
(Table, seat, name, chips)
32 1 Vladimir Geshkenbein 337,000
32 2 Thomas Ollhoff 121,000
32 3 Jörg Peisert 122,000
32 4 Oleg Mandzjuk 429,000
32 5 Ján Petráš 153,000
32 6 Gerhard Bauer 396,000
32 7 Dirk Recknagel 45,000
32 8 Kasparas Klezys 460,000
34 1 Ivan Herz 242,000
34 2 Jakub Szczotka 281,000
34 3 Mario Bureš 183,000
34 4 Dmitry Trtyakov 199,000
34 5 Erich Kollmann 170,000
34 6 Giovanni Mazza 551,000
34 7 Frank Fechner 283,000
34 8 Dorde Jovanovic 273,000
35 1 Ivan Kruljac 169,000
35 2 Fabian Leib 443,000
35 3 Koral Calisir 224,000
35 4 Rinaldo Aquino 367,000
35 5 Simeon Todorov 147,000
35 6 Ronald Szczerba 383,000
35 7 Jan Dönges 494,000
36 1 Sinisa Teodorovic 253,000
36 2 Bart Lybaert 607,000
36 3 Vladimír Válek 211,000
36 4 David Engelthaler 60,000
36 5 Bülent Demirtas 327,000
36 6 Thomas Erler 207,000
36 7 Mark Bech 115,000
Play begins at noon. We have shifted up to the High Roller cash area at the casino today, which means wide tables and James Bond villain chairs for the players. They will hope to bed in for the day.
